


the ordeal of replacing picks

by hi_hello_hey_there



Series: you don't have to say i love you (to say i love you) [3]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Gen, How Do I Tag, Ray Finds Out, Ray Loves the Boys, Ray is Reggie's Father Figure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:13:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26962717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hi_hello_hey_there/pseuds/hi_hello_hey_there
Summary: "No, no, it's my treat."
Relationships: Ray Molina & Reggie
Series: you don't have to say i love you (to say i love you) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1942267
Comments: 50
Kudos: 420





	the ordeal of replacing picks

**Author's Note:**

> This story is beta read by my lovely friend, Cassie! You can check her out at her main blog [findingsofafangirl](https://findingsofafangirl.tumblr.com/) or her secondary blog [academia-and-politics](https://academia-and-politics.tumblr.com/). Thanks so much, Cass. I love you!

Ray may be clueless about a few things, like what exactly “lit” means and why Julie and Flynn make peace signs when they’re sad, but he’s not _entirely_ out of touch. Which is why he’s shocked when the idea finally comes to him: his daughter’s band is made up of ghosts.

“Ridiculous,” he says to himself, chuckling a little at his temporary insanity as he bustles around the kitchen making breakfast for dinner. But then he can’t get the thought out of his head. He remembers Rose talking about a band she’d seen rehearse while she was working the Orpheum just after they had started dating. They had given her a shirt (which she later bedazzled) and their demo (that she played almost exclusively for a month).

And then the news broke that more than half that band died in a tragic accident and Rose packed away the CD and the shirt and didn’t look at them for a while. But Ray still remembers pulling the CD’s liner out of the case while they listened so he could read the lyrics. And he still remembers the young faces of the boys staring back at him every time he unfolded it, how uncannily similar they look to Julie’s band.

If that were all the evidence he had, maybe he could’ve brushed it aside, he could’ve told himself she just used their likenesses for the holograms. But then, what would explain the odd things happening around the house? Not bad or scary things, just… _things_. Unexplainable by any stretch of reality. It’s stuff like his keys suddenly appearing where he had just looked before having to ask his kids about them or the fire on the stove being turned down so the food doesn’t burn or the windows already being locked when he goes to shut them at night. Once, he came home to a message left in the tiny magnet words Carlos had convinced him to get on the fridge: _you are doing great_. Ray had smiled a watery smile, assuming it was Julie leaving some words of encouragement after that rough morning where everyone was running late, breakfast nearly set off the smoke alarm, and his car broke down. Now, however, he thinks back on the fact that he was the first one home and nobody had been in the house since they all left.

Nobody that he knew of, anyway.

Ray chuckles a self-deprecating chuckle, shaking his head and flipping his French toast, dismissing all thoughts of spirits and specters from his mind. He’d been paying way too much attention to Carlos’s ghost chatter as of late. “The Phantoms are real phantoms?” he teases himself aloud, picking up another piece of bread and dipping it into the bowl of egg mixture.

He nearly knocks the bowl off the counter when Julie practically shouts, “ _What?_ How did you find out?”

Really, it shouldn’t take Ray as long as it does to process what his daughter is saying as he tries to still the bowl, a string of Spanish profanities slipping out of his mouth unbidden. And then it hits him. “Wait, what did you just say? Find out what?”

Julie looks at him, panic evident on her face, for entirely too long before she scrambles out, “Nothing. Nothing! There’s nothing to find out. Nope, all good here!”

Ray narrows his eyes at her, slowly saying, “Julie, is there something you want to tell me?”

He should know it’s something strange when she sighs finally and says, “You might want to sit down for this one.”

~ ~ ~

Ray is floored and that is putting it _very_ lightly.

“So,” he begins delicately. His world having gone completely topsy turvy only ten minutes ago sort of puts everything into perspective and he thinks he’s allowed a moment of floundering. He tries again, “So the boys in your band are ghosts and they can only be seen when they play with you?” Julie is nodding when he looks up at her. “And they… came back when you played their old CD?”

“Yep.” She stills sounds like she’s walking on eggshells as her eyes flit around the room.

Ray takes a deep breath. “Okay.”

“O-okay? That’s it?” He watches Julie practically deflate as she lets out the rest of her panicked breath-holding. “Okay.”

And Ray _really_ surprises himself when the next words out of his mouth are, “It makes sense.”

“It- does?”

Confusion is clear on her face so he elaborates. “Your mother was a really big fan of Sunset Curve back in the day. They looked familiar but I didn’t place it until recently. Plus, all the little things around the house I know none of us did were a big hint.” Julie chuckles fondly. “What?”

“That’s Reggie for you.”

Ray sweeps his eyes over the room, trying to notice something out of place that would signify another presence. “Are they here? Right now?”

“Yeah. They all say hi.” She points at the three unoccupied- well _visibly_ unoccupied- chairs around the table. “Let me ask. Reggie wants to know if he can try something we’ve been working on.”

“Um…” Ray’s brain short circuits for a second, taking a moment to realize Julie wouldn’t let anything bad happen before answering. “I suppose.” The room is pin-drop silent while he waits for something to happen. Suddenly, there’s a cool hand on his shoulder, just chilly enough to send an involuntary shiver down his spine. It’s gone as soon as it came, but the sensation lingers, goosebumps raising on his arms. There’s something else, though: a gut feeling that Reggie’s a good guy, a little goofy maybe, but he would do anything for his loved ones. Ray says as much out loud.

“Dad, I’m pretty sure you broke him,” is what Julie finally says, her soft laughter filling the room accompanied by an undercurrent of something that sounds like electrical buzzing. The sound cuts short then and the dining room feels a bit warmer. “They left. I think Reggie really needed to hear that. From what I know, his relationship with his dad wasn’t that great. He was messing around with his pick and he practically snapped it in half when you said that.”

“Really? Now I feel bad.” Ray stands up from his seat and almost falls back in it when his daughter tackles him with a hug. “Are you okay, _mija_?”

“Perfect. I’m really glad I don’t have to keep that from you anymore.” She smiles up at him and he can’t help but smile back. “Now, let’s eat. I’m starving!”

~ ~ ~

Ray is working on some editing one rainy Thursday when he no longer feels alone. The kids are at school, so he can only assume it’s one of the boys, probably Reggie.

“If that’s Reggie, could you maybe show me a sign?” It sounds pretty stupid coming out of his mouth, but he cracks a grin when the curtains move on their own. “How’re you today?” He pushes a blank notepad and a pen towards that side of the desk and tries not to gawk when the pen floats in midair.

_Not too bad. How about you?_

“I’m pretty good. Thanks for asking.” There’s a lull where Ray can’t think of anything else to say until his gaze lands on the radio and he points at it. “You can turn on some music if you’d like.” The old thing crackles to life, the static that comes with searching for a station filtering out of the speakers until it settles on a Dolly Parton song that had been making a resurgence in popularity recently. It startles a good laugh out of him. “Didn’t peg you as a country kind of guy.”

The pen starts moving again. _I’m a man of many tastes._

“Me, too,” Ray states, still chuckling a little. They fall into a comfortable silence after that, Ray working on his photos and Reggie presumably keeping him company. Every so often, he’ll hear light taps or humming so he knows the boy is still there with him.

A half hour later, Ray is toggling between one filter and another, unable to decide which one he likes better. He puts the two side by side and is studying them when the pen lifts up from the notepad and points at the one on the left. “Good choice, Reg. Hey, how’s band practice going?”

_We’re working on some new stuff I think you’ll be excited to hear. But I broke my pick the other day and I haven’t been able to find another one so I’m using one of Luke’s. It’s not the same, but I’ll manage._

After Ray finishes reading what Reggie writes, he exclaims, “Oh! That reminds me.” He hops up from his desk and makes his way over to the bookshelf. When Julie told him he’d inadvertently made him break his pick, he went out the next day and ordered a few new ones because he felt so bad. He just hadn’t gotten the opportunity to give them to him until now. “These are replacements for you.” He pulls the little red mesh bag they came in out from behind a tiny camera figurine Carlos had painted him for father’s day a few years ago. He dumps the contents of the bag gently onto his desk so Reggie can see and interact with them.

There’s six in total. Four have the Julie and the Phantoms logo that Alex’s bass drum decal currently sports, one has the old Sunset Curve logo, and the last one has a group photo taken just before their final bows the night of the Orpheum performance. “It’s not much and I’ll get the others something too later on, but take these as a welcoming gift. Even though you’ve been here a few weeks already.” The one with the photo lifts up into the air and spins as if it’s being examined. It disappears altogether when light bass music mingles with the country radio station. “Wow. Sounds good!”

When the pen takes up writing once more, it’s a little shaky. _You didn’t have to do this. I don’t even know if ghosts have money but how much do I owe you?_

**“No, no, it’s my treat.”** Ray waves him off and waits for another message on the notepad. Nothing comes and for a moment he thinks Reggie may have left until he feels the pressure of a hug barrel into him. He’s so caught off guard that he doesn’t react for a moment until his arms come up reflexively and he _feels_ Reggie. He concentrates on not passing through him and squeezes as tight as he can for as long as he can before his focus runs out. “Anything you need, _mijo_. Don’t hesitate to ask.”

Ray feels rather than sees Reggie step back, the ghostly chill hanging around him still, and watches him write again. _Thank you. I can’t wait to show the guys._

A small “Anytime” comes out of Ray’s mouth before the room starts to get incrementally warmer. He takes a seat back at his desk and resumes his editing, Johnny Cash crooning in the background. He realizes with a jolt that he called Reggie _mijo_ , a term he had previously only used for Carlos and his nephews. Maybe he thinks of the boys as his kids already. Ray isn’t stupid or even truly that surpriseds; he knows himself better than anyone, save only Rose, perhaps. So he knows that, after he finally found out and given the right amount of time, he’d eventually love them like his own. It’s just happening sooner than he expected. The thought makes him grin and he hums Reggie’s bassline as he works.

**Author's Note:**

> I actually really loved writing this one! I'm always a sucker for Ray thinking of the boys as his own and Reggie thinking of Ray as a father. As always, if you have a request for a prompt from the list [here](https://p0ck3tf0x.tumblr.com/post/98502010026/one-hundred-ways-to-say-i-love-you) or a scene/plot you'd like me to incorporate somehow, I'd be more than happy to hear about it. You can leave a comment here or send me a message on tumblr. I'm more likely to see a message to my main account than my side one, but you're welcome to use any way you're comfortable with. Here's an updated list with prompts that I have already started working on: 10, 12, 19, 31, 33, 37, 38, 39, 41, 44, 53, 63, 65, 67, 82, 83, 86, 91, 92, 98, and 99. All the others are free for request.
> 
> main: [hi-hello-hey-there](https://hi-hello-hey-there.tumblr.com/)  
> side: [toziers-token](https://toziers-token.tumblr.com/)
> 
> love, blue
> 
> p.s. keep your eyes peeled for something fun later this week ;)


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